Let's Give it a Year

Chapter 20

The next morning came quicker than expected, and when Astrid awoke she found her bed to be oddly empty. Her arms stretched out to the sides and expected to meet a figure, or another arm to stop her and pull her close. But as she swiped across the bed, she found no obstruction to her movements and she opened her eyes onto an empty bed. Sitting up and looking around the room, Astrid saw no one around and her brow furrowed.

"Was it a dream?"

Astrid shook her head, not believing that she was actually searching for Hiccup in her sheets, almost desperate for his presence. She was being crazy, and it must've been due to the fever. As she sat up, a small, damp towel fell from her forehead and landed on her lap. Astrid tossed it off the bed and moved up off of the bed, standing up and giving herself a big stretch.

As she stretched, she walked over to the mirror by her closet and froze in her place as her eyes scanned her figure and what she was wearing.

"What am I wearing? This isn't mine..." Astrid looked closely at the hoodie and felt the fabric between her fingers as she looked at it in her reflection. Something about it felt familiar, the soft feel of the fabric between her fingers and the familiar, masculine smell sent a warm feeling spreading through Astrid's heart. "Is this Hiccup's?" Astrid asked aloud to herself, before taking in a big whiff of the hoodie and sighing in content. "Yep. It's his."

After admiring her figure in Hiccup's clothes, Astrid made her way downstairs and over to the kitchen. As she arrived, she saw a small note on the door of the fridge and she immediately knew who the author of it was. Grabbing the note quickly, her eyes read the words carefully with a smile on her face.

"Don't worry about going to work, I've told your father that you're sick and are having the day off. Thanks for telling me about him yesterday, I know it couldn't have been easy. Take it easy milady. Hiccup."

Astrid smiled at the nickname he had given her, the writing of it making her heart flutter as she wished to hear the name fall from his lips just once. However, she let out a short sigh at the prospect of staying home for the day without much to do.

So, she opened the fridge to see a bowl wrapped in cling film ready and waiting inside. Carefully taking the meal out from the fridge, Astrid found another note attached to the top of it. It was from Hiccup again, and the note made Astrid's breath hitch in her throat.

'Here's some porridge for the morning. There's some soup for lunch in a green tub with instructions on how to cook it. Please don't burn down the kitchen before I get back.'

Astrid chuckled at his sarcastic humour and gritted her teeth lightly.

"Watch yourself Hiccup, I don't like insults." She murmured to herself. "Put the porridge in the microwave for 1 minute before eating, take it out when it starts bubbling to check whether it's hot enough." Astrid muttered to herself as she read out the instructions that Hiccup had left on his note and it made Astrid roll her eyes.

Yet, she wasn't about to disobey the words of her husband, not when he had been nice enough to make her breakfast and lunch before she woke up.

A small smile spread across her lips as she read the note again, hearing Hiccup's voice as she read it and her heart fluttering at his natural humour and sweetness. However, Astrid shook herself out of it quickly and her expression dropped.

"No." She told herself firmly, "I can't let him sow a seed. It's just food, it doesn't mean anything."

But it did. It meant a lot of things. A lot of those things were starting to fertilise the soil in Astrid's heart, ready for the seed to be sown. She just didn't know it yet.